Autism

When I came across this article I blinked several times, wondering if I was seeing things that simply were not there. Read More

One of the early indicators of an Autism Spectrum Disorder is a lack of traditional response to sounds and language, such as a child not responding to his name being called or not attending when being spoken to. However, does that mean that children with Autism are not listening and understanding what we say? Many people hold this erroneous belief, even to the point where they speak negatively about children with Autism right in front of them.   Read More

"He's such a bright little boy!" My mother and her friends said things like that all the time, as they pointed to me when they thought I wasn't paying attention. Read More

On the evidence of a single photo many people think that chimps think like us—but that’s because they are thinking like people, not like chimps.

We can't get a handle on autism - it continues to grow without bounds.  Various genetic and environmental hypotheses about the sources for this disorder in our modern world have not been borne out.  Here's one to consider - that children who become used to video as a main form of entertainment and learning are more susceptible.  In that case, watch out America. Read More

Thanks to modern technology, I now have one more way to seem rude while actually paying incredibly close attention. I made this discovery when my friend Jan invited me to the annual meeting of the Connecticut River Watershed Council. Come on, she said, It will be interesting. I'm feeling more social these days so I decided to go . . Read More

Recently, I wrote a post here about Gary McKinnon, the Scotsman with Asperger's Syndrome who admittedly hacked into 97 US government computers containing sensitive military information. Facing charges that could lead to sixty years in prison if he was convicted in a US court, McKinnon fought against his extradition - claiming that, specifically because of his Asperger's, the trauma of going to trial might make him suicidal. Now his story takes a new twist.

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A Scotsman with Asperger's Syndrome suffered a key setback today in his efforts to avoid extradition to the United States, where he faces charges of hacking into US Defense Department and Napa computers. Gary McKinnon admits having hacked into the 97 computers in 2001 and 2002 and leaving the message "I will continue to disrupt." While the US government charges that this was a deliberate effort to breach defense systems, McKinnon claims he did it merely to seek information on UFOs.  Read More

As PT blogger Michael J. Formica noted, today is the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas K. Gandhi.  In honor of the event, I thought I'd share a post I wrote a few years ago about how his life inspired me to think differently about some of my challenges,  such as my troubles with speech.

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